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Saturday, November 9, 2013

After a long hiatus Kenny (@teapester725) and Nick (@ziggy26x) are back to continue their Pick 6 segment for the NFL Season. To refresh everyone, the current standings for the dynamic duo stand as follows: Kenny has 21.5 points after picking yet another underdog team, the St. Louis Rams over the Houston Texans back in Week 6 and Nick has 14.5 points after picking a favorite in the Indianapolis Colts and they fell to the San Diego Chargers in the same week. That week in the first five games both participants lost by picking the Cincinnati Bengals over the Buffalo Bills but won with the Philadelphia Eagles over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The remaining three picks were split, with Kenny taking the Pittsburgh Steelers over New York Jets and New England Patriots over the New Orleans Saints and Nick bringing home a victory in the Washington Redskins vs. Dallas Cowboys matchup. Take a look at the picks for this week after the jump as they continue their picks through the end of the season.

The Knicks were able to exact some
revenge tonight as they bounced back nicely against the Bobcats with a 101-91
victory after a disappointing loss Tuesday night. The Knicks came out of half
time like world beaters, ripping off a 15-0 run after the Bobcats scored the opening
basket of the quarter to cut the Knicks lead to two points. The Bobcats are not
a top team in the NBA by any means but tonight was an encouraging step in the
right direction for the Knicks as they played possibly their best game of the
early season. Tonight also marked the head coaching debut of Patrick Ewing, who
was taking over for Bobcats head coach Steve Phillips had a heart procedure earlier
in the day. The Knicks will be back on the court Sunday afternoon at Madison
Square Garden for a matinee against the San Antonio Spurs as J.R. Smith will be
making his season debut.

Player of the Game: Andrea Bargnani

AP Photo

Bargnani is the first multiple time
winner of the POTG award and tonight it was well deserved as he had his best
game as a Knicks. Bargnani came out firing tonight and ended up scoring 25
points on 11 of 25 shooting from the field as he stayed aggressive and showed
confidence all night from the field. The confidence carried over to the other
parts of his game tonight as he added eight rebounds, three assists and five
blocks. To put into perspective how good of a performance it was for Bargnani
tonight, the eight rebounds match his season total in the previous four games
and he had no recorded a block during that course of time either. It was only
one game against a less opponent but in the first game without Chandler on the
court Bargnani came up huge and showed that he is capable of holding down the
center spot until Chandler returns.

-Positives

Carmelo Anthony was well deserving of POTG
honors as well as he had his most efficient game of the season on the offensive
end, going 11 of 22 from the field and finishing with a game high 28 points.
Anthony added eight rebounds and handed out six assists as the ball was moving
well for the Knicks tonight led by Anthony’s willingness to make the extra pass
and hit the open man. The six assists led the Knicks tonight, who had 25 as a
team; this comes after a Wednesday disaster at MSG against this same Bobcats
team when the Knicks only had 12 assists in the game, a number they matched in
the first half alone tonight.

The assists weren’t the only positive
thing for the Knicks tonight on offense, as they shot the ball extremely well
from the three point line as well. The Knicks knocked down 12 of 26 attempts
from the three point line, led by three from Bargnani and Pablo Prigioni each. The
Knicks were also able to keep the turnovers down for most of the night as they
ended the game with 12, seven of which that came in the fourth quarter alone. The
low turnover rate forced the Bobcats into a half-court game, something they are
not built for without Al Jefferson being on the court.

It was a quite night in the scoring
department for Iman Shumpert but he was a big help to the Knicks bringing home
the victory tonight. Shumpert only scored five points in 39 minutes but added
seven rebounds and four assists. Shumpert’s rebounding will be a big lift with
Chandler on the shelf for an extended period of time. Overall tonight the
Knicks did a good job on the glass, losing only 41-37 in the game but
dominating the offensive glass. The Knicks pulled down 12 offensive rebounds in
the game, led by five from Anthony and three from Bargnani. Shumpert will have
to continue doing positive things like he did tonight to continue receiving
playing time as Mike Woodson’s personal pet project Smith returns Sunday from
suspension.

-Negatives

The Knicks struggled tonight to keep the
Bobcats guards out of the paint and that has nothing to do with Chandler being
hurt. The perimeter players, specifically Raymond Felton, have to do a better
job of keeping opposing guards out of the paint. Kemba Walker struggled with
his shot tonight but caused havoc in the paint tonight along with his backup
Ramon Sessions. The two combined to go 15 of 15 from the foul line and 40 points,
hand out seven assists and turn the ball over only once. The Knicks would help
offset the loss of Chandler if they can do better at keeping opposing guards
out of the paint, taking some pressure off of Bargnani as a rim protector.

With the guards attacking the basket so
ferociously the Knicks ended up fouling a lot and sending the Bobcats to the foul
line too often. The Bobcats went to the foul line 30 times tonight and knocked
down 25 of them, compared to only nine attempts and five makes for the Knicks. The
foul differential was the only thing keeping the Bobcats in the game as the
Knicks were able to come away with a 10 point victory even though they were
more than tripled from attempts from the line.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

The New York Jets up and down season
stayed true in Week 9 against one of the better teams in the NFL.
After a blowout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 8, the Jets
bounced back with a great 26-20 win at home against the New Orleans
Saints. The win puts the Jets at (5-4) on the season, which if the
season ended today would be good enough for a spot in the AFC
playoffs.

Passing Offense Grade (C-)

In the win on Sunday the Jets passing
offense wasn’t asked to do much, but maybe most importantly
Quarterback Geno Smith took what the Saints passing defense gave him
and didn’t turn the ball over. Smith threw for just 115 yards on
eight for 19 passing, but what cant be stressed enough is that he
protected the football. The “Wildcat” offense showed a nice
wrinkle, as Josh Cribbs threw his first pass as a Jet for 25 yards,
which clearly caught the Saints off guard. A big loss for the Jets
did happen to the Jets passing game in the second quarter, as Jeremy
Kerley dislocated his elbow on what was a nasty looking injury, and
will be out for a few weeks, but hasn’t been ruled out for the
season. Two guys did step up for the depleted Jets receiving core, as
Greg Salas had two catches for 57 yards, and Zach Sudfield had two
catches for 46 yards. The bye week should allow for the Jets to get
Santonio Holmes back, which should greatly help Smith.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

The Knicks have no one to blame tonight
other than themselves for the 109-100 loss at Madison Square Garden Sunday
night. The Knicks were blitzed by the T’Wolves in the first quarter, falling behind
40-19 by the time the second quarter was starting courtesy of a 34-5. The Knicks
showed some heart and fought back throughout the game, getting it to within two
points in the fourth quarter but they ran out of steam and the comeback came up
short. Outside of the first quarter the Knicks actually outscored the
Timberwolves by 12 points but it was not enough. The Knicks will look to get
back on track Tuesday night back at the Garden against the Charlotte Bobcats at
7:30 PM ET.

Player of the Game: Carmelo Anthony

AP Photo/Frank Franklin III

It was not the best of nights from the
field for Anthony but he receives the player of the game for the effort he put
forth in the other aspects of the game tonight. Anthony had a game high 17
rebounds and fought hard on the glass against what could be the best power
forward-center tandem in the NBA in Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic. Anthony also
added a team high 22 points and three assists as he scanned the court and found
open players on multiple occasions. It was not a perfect game by any means for
Anthony but he was the lesser of the evils tonight for the Knicks in what was a
very ugly game as the end score does not do justice to the disheartened effort
they showed in the start.